Even Tesco says we’re wasting too much food

Monday 21 October, 2013by peter

The rest of this lovely salad is in the compost bin

That crinkled bag of salad with mushy brown juice, lingering on at the end of your fridge. The old banana which, even as the brown dots consume the skin, you’ll get around to eating any day now. And the sinking feeling of guilt every time you look at the half-pan of bread, and feel torn between eating an unnecessary amount of wheat and carbs to get one up on mould, or flinging it in the bin.

Today, Tesco revealed that an astonishing two-thirds of produce grown for bagged salad ends up in the bin, as do 40 per cent of apples, and a quarter of grapes. The company is now ending two-for-one promotions on salad and embarking on an information campaign to provide its customers with tips on how to store fruit and use leftover bread.

I struggle with food waste because, with no kids to cook for, I generally don’t know exactly how many dinners I’ll make in a given week; sometimes I’ll do a big shop only to find myself eating out a lot or calling to friends or family for dinner. Bagged salads are my bête noir; I’ve considered growing my own from late spring to autumn, but promptly forgotten my good intentions.

Do you fling out a lot of salad? And what are your top tips for cutting food waste?

3 Comments

More bull poop from T*sco. I use bagged leaves all the time for lunches and salads, none is ever thrown out. Not once have I seen a 2 for 1 offer on bagged salads. I assume they are using it as an excuse to increase prices.

Criminy, Claire. I have to agree with Peter – though I must add that I’ve simply stopped buying bags of washed salad unless I have guests calling over and I can be confident that the leaves will be used up.
Now I get my five a day by consuming one piece of fruit with breakfast and trying to grab at least one more item of fresh fruit during the day.
Yes, that’s three fewer than the my supposed quota of fresh fruit. No, I don’t have scurvy. I’m just a woman in her thirties who hates waste.